Do I have to read the whole letter in one sitting?
No. Read the greeting and the paragraph in front of you. Mark where you stopped. The no-streak guide is the bookmark. A letter is long on purpose.
Practice
How to read a New Testament letter
A New Testament letter was sent by someone to someone. The opening usually names both. Read that opening before you underline a later command. A command to a church in a crisis is still a sentence you can learn from, and it is still addressed. Scripture Journey’s context notes exist so those sentences are not floating. This page is the order of reading when the passage is a letter.
Start at the greeting
Write the sender and the recipients in your note, even if your sitting is only one later paragraph. “Paul to the church in Corinth” changes how you hear “you.”
If the passage on the sermon page starts mid-letter, open the chapter and find the greeting anyway. The study’s passage is the focus. The greeting is the address on the envelope.
Then the paragraph you were given
Read the paragraph twice. Mark the connecting words: therefore, but, so that. Those words tell you the paragraph is attached to something earlier.
One verse on a mug is not the paragraph. If you want a line you can repeat, the one-verse guide says how to take it without pretending it is the whole letter.
What not to do with “you”
The “you” is plural more often than English shows. You can receive the letter as the church’s book. You should not skip the fact that it had first readers.
A study note can help with that setting. If the note and the paragraph seem to fight, reread both. The disagreement guide is for that, not a winner’s badge.
Questions
Are all New Testament books letters?
No. Gospels, Acts, and Revelation are not letters in this sense. Use the parable guide or the one-chapter guide for those sittings.